District 9 Review

Finally. After waiting for weeks and being delayed by a bad copy, I was able to see "District 9". Simply because of the fact that it looked like the best sci-fi movie this year, but also because of it being directed by Neill Bloomkamp. Besides having an extra "l" in his first name, Neill was originally given the duty to direct the now postponed Halo movie. I needed to see what could have been.

What I saw was impressive, to say the least. Though obviously CG, the action and scenes involving the aliens were extremely well done. The style how it was filmed, jumping between "interviews", security cameras, and normal, was an interesting approach.

Leading up to the when I actually watched it, I understood the premise. Alien refugees come to Earth, stopping above Johannesburg, South Africa. The World governments decide to support the aliens, however after 20 years, we get tired and transfer the species to live in a giant camp called "District 9". With them, the aliens bring weapons and technology that can only be used by them. A shady, world organization called "MNU" is trying to get a lucrative weapons contract by being the first to discover the secrets behind the technology.

During a random inspection of the Alien slums, an employee discovers an alien object, gets sprayed by a mysterious black liquid, and becomes infected with some sort of alien virus. The infection alters his DNA and allows him to use the alien technology. Discovering this, MNU chases after him in hopes to dissecting him and discovering whatever caused his mutations. The infected person escapes MNU in District 9.

Knowing all this, watching the movie still surprised me with it's story elements, yet also disappointed me. For one, I was expecting to actually like the characters and side with certain ones. The main protagonist, Wikus van der Merwe, is a rather big dork who is basically handed his job because he's married to his boss's daughter. At first, I didn't know if his wife would be some manipulative b**h, or as pathetic as he was, a perfect match. The father-in-law plays the same role as evil, the ends-justify-the-means-and-by-means-I-mean-I-get-richer, role as most villains, and the company he works for is just as sadistic. The aliens are being experimented on, and they have no problem cutting them or the "hero" up.

Which brings me to my next complaint, he never really is a hero. Wikus is played by Sharlto Copely, and it is his first feature film role. Not that you really care who Copely is, but he is signed on to star as H. M. Murdock in the upcoming theatrical remake of "The A-Team". Coeply is able to be believable, as he is definitely not larger than life, and I could feel his desperation as the movie played out. I had no issue with his performance, but was confused as I thought I would be "rooting" for him. The character is a dork, selfish, and the end of the movie doesn't exactly wrap up.

The aliens themselves were realistic. Not in the sense that they looked real, but if the scenario was real. I thought I would feel bad for them and we would feel complete pity for them. But like any mass group of refugees in one place for more than a short time, they start to wear out their welcome. It was interesting how they had the aliens addicted to cat food. Seeing the aliens act like crack addicts and desperately trade their weapons and belongings for cans from the local gangs and warlords was somewhat satirical. But like crack heads, its hard to find pity for them. True, you are in disgust when you see what MNU does to them, yet you can understand why Earth doesn't want them anymore. It also doesn't help the fact that they look like this.

Along with a couple small things, the one thing I noticed is that it felt a tad short. This really isn't a complaint, but it was just something I noticed. The action seemed a tad smaller than what the trailers implied. That being said, their plenty of gore of bodies literally being blown apart, human and alien-like.

I enjoyed it and the my money spent wasn't wasted. I really liked and was way more satisfied, rather than disappointed. Sci-Fi fans, this is a must, and to the rest, this should be worth one Sunday afternoon. If anything, Peter Jackson produced the film, so if that means anything to you...

Sailor Harry goes to Freedom Rest

So the Army has places set around Iraq called Freedom Rest. Long explanation short, it's a place where troops can go a take a 3-day break. No set times or requirements, just 3 full days of do what you want, when you want. The small compound, (and I do mean small), came complete with a pool and 3 jacuzzies, 24-hour kitchen, plenty of computers, pool tables, and plenty of phones to call home. Let me start with the good, before I begin to ramble and rant.

The 24-hour kitchen was by far the best part of my stay. Being able to go into the area and grab a cup of coffee and a snack at 3AM if I wanted to was pretty sweet. The fact that the staff wanted the experience to be al a carte, where you ordered what you wanted instead of going into a chow line, was a brilliant idea as well. The pool was good, but I used the area to work on a tan more tan the pool itself. With the lack of a filter and no heater, surprisingly the water was freezing. Being in Iraq, I had no need of a jacuzzi. Calling home on something besides a sat phone, with constant drop-outs, was a nice change.

Now I have to critique, becuase this place was far from being perfect. To me, you go to places like this to "get away" from it all, and that's what the aim of the place is. Yet, it felt as though we were more confined to the place. Once you check in, you're there for the 3 full days. Guy tried to leave early, they wouldn't let him, even with his unit there to pick him up. With limited activities, it's easy to get bored. Normally, this wouldn't be too much of an issue, but this is the biggest issue I had with the place. While at Speicher, I have my own room, complete with couch, nice size HDTV, Xbox 360, desk, and best of all, more privacy then I would ever had had compared to being back on a ship. How is this place "relaxing" when you expect putting 4 guys into one room, to have no issue with that? Either get more space or take less people. It also doesn't help if one of your roomates has no problem waking up at 0530, moving his crap around, and slowly opening and closing doors, while bright lights shine into all of our eyes.

Another problem with the rooms was the fact that before I came there, I never had the issue that most do with sand fleas. These little, tiny bastards, get at you while you sleep and do what fleas do. It's not that we're unhygenic. It's the fact that we're in the desert and sand and dust gets into everything. The dinky bunk beds they had for us must have had them, because we were all harrassed.

There were other issues and I'm not paid to write reviews, so I'm not going to say much more. What I will add is this. I was hopeing to finally get a decent steak while I was there. After assuarances by the staff, I orderd a couple grilled steaks, and I orderd them all rare. What I got was steaks worst than what I would get at a normal DFAC. Harry was not amused, especially by the Ethiopian waiter smiling and nodding his head as if he understood English.

(I really had nothing to post, and this has been the only thing that has really happend in the last couple weeks. The picture has really nothing to do with this. I just woke up, leave me alone.